america or the stories we got to and some that we didn't go to our website our to dot com slash usa we're going to course follow me on twitter i'm at christine stick around breaking the set with host abby martin is coming up at the top of the hour i'll see you right back here at eight pm. oh.

we'll. keep. following welcome to crossfire i'm peter lavelle meant to but what kind of foreign

policy could the world expect from a romney administration his supporters claim he would restore america's honor and standing in the world critics' retort his rhetoric in world view are remarkably close to that of george w. bush and there are those who see romney is no different from barack obama. speaking. to cross talk the world of mitt i'm joined by and shall pfeffer in london he is a journalist and calmness for her outs in washington we have penny lee she is a political communications and government relations strategist and president of bennett strategies and in las vegas we cross to wayne root he is a political commentator and author of the conscience of a libertarian empowering the citizen revolution with god guns gold and tax cuts are across the rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want when i always go to the first person i got up for the program so i'm going to go to you first is. make romney just a bush retread when it comes to foreign policy well you know i'll give you

a disclaimer as i start this segment the disclaimer is i am a fan of mitt romney i'm supporting mitt romney i've been torched mitt romney but almost one hundred percent because of economic to mystic issues taxes spending anything involving the economy so this is foreign affairs i'm a little bit more on the ron paul side on foreign affairs and i don't always agree with mitt romney on foreign affairs i disagree in the way that i think we do not want to be the world's policemen and we do not want to be a nation builder ok i'll wager what i mean is it a little different way gly honest let me know you've always on me ask you in a different way do you think romney is coherent on foreign policy let's do it that way. yeah well let's put it this way george bush got us into some other warranted wars that helped to bankrupt the united states of america i think he made some very obvious mistakes barack obama's policies of appeasement apology have put the united states in a horrendous position that might lead to future wars and he's completely abandon israel and throw her under the bus so where i agree with romney is our standing in

the world was not helped by being nice and being naive and being apologetic and i'm very pro israel and i believe the united states of america must always be very pro israel and that's where i stand with mitt romney ok pig a penny i'm going to go to you in washington what do you want to react to what wayne just said there. well it would be nice to know if we actually knew it mitt romney actually stood for i mean similar to where he is on the domestic policy we still don't have a clear picture of where he is on the foreign policy i mean again his speech after speech is just more about platitudes than it actually is specifics and he says he disagrees with barack obama but when you look at his actual what he does actually say when he gets to just as sampling of details it is it is similar to what the president said he says you know the president needs to be tougher on iran what are you going to do that oh i'm going to do the same sanctions that the president is doing we need to get out of afghanistan well the president shouldn't be getting out of get afghanistan but you know what i'm going to pull the troops out in two thousand and fourteen as well so you know he is all over the map similar to all

issues and he tries to play both sides and he flip flops you know so much so they should be having stock in the company ok and so if we're going to you in london it seems to me a lot of people say that you know romney is a bush retread but it seems to me exactly like barack obama. well i got out and i do with you on the substance and i think on the substance if we can try and predict what a romney presidency will look like on foreign policy it does seem that in substance he won't be that different to barack obama certainly if we're talking about the middle east romney may be sounding more tough on iran but he's not he's not saying i'm going to bomb iran is not saying i'm going to do anything substantially different from what from what obama has been doing now so i agree i think that it's very it's very similar he's very similar to a bomber in that in that sense but i think that it's important to look at the tone and the rhetoric and america is the currently most looked upon from around the

world and i think that if if romney is sounding a different tone to what obama was sounding less you could call it appeasement you could call it less less conciliatory towards the arab world and towards china towards north korea towards russia i think there also has an importance to itself ok when do you think the united states needs to be more aggressive in the world i think the world had enough of american aggression in the last decade. well you know like i said i think there's two extremes i think bush was too aggressive i think obama is not aggressive enough i think the answer is very often moderation right in the middle i think when it comes to israel the united states has got to be supportive i think the important part is we do not have to bomb iran i think that israel should be given the green light to do what needs to be done in a read that's how foreign policy under romney will be very different i think that we're not supportive of the arab spring i could have told you and i'm not a foreign policy expert that the arab spring was going to lead to nightmares for the united states and israel have put regimes in place that were far worse than

mubarak or anything like them is in play democracy is a dangerous thing democracy is a dangerous thing go ahead jump in that what i mean leader it's a bitter it's a dangerous ok go ahead. but you know i know that when i say that you know he has to completely abandon israel but in but in fact he hasn't i mean we have increased the amount of money that we have continued to give israel we are continuing to strengthen the dome that is over there for the most security and they have engaged i mean yes there's probably not the personal relationship that ben ben benjamin netanyahu and president obama have but yet that the policies are clear we are absolutely supportive of continuing on we strengthen israel so that they have the capacities and the capabilities to do what they need to do with regards to security in that region so you know we do not need to be the police i do agree with wayne that we do not need to be the police of the world but yet at the same time people do look for us for the leadership and where the president has done

right is in a multilateral cooperation in trying to get it so that we're not the force we weren't the lead force in libya but we brought together other nations we were the lead and iran but we brought together other nations to do crippling sanctions so we do need to have a good how but we made it what everybody is if you listen to everything would be good if you listen to everything that romney studies that he doesn't want that he wants america to lead alone. who knows where mitt romney's the only he says these things but yet in the same time he backtracked in the next speech so you just never know where he's going to be again i mean look where he is on afghanistan where he says to the president he says he says oh no we can't we can't put a date out there for twenty fourteen but yet what are you going to do in that romney and we remove the troops in twenty fourteen so i mean he's all over the map ok when you want to react to that go ahead but the argument peter well just the argument that obama is pro israeli and his policy is that everybody has which are always going to america around me and everybody is you're always railing in america

there's gradations peter there's gradations of how progress really you are mitt romney stands one hundred and ten percent with israel obama is very wishy washy and i believe is only supported israel or there is only there we were really supportive of israel and a lot of the lesser sort of go head to head in london your turn go ahead i think i think the i think i agree that the record does support what wayne says i think that on substance on actual aid to israel cooperation with intelligence on the military level there but i would ministration has been every bit as good as previous administrations if not better i'm saying this is a previous security correspondent in israel you can see the level of cooperation on exercises on intelligence sharing on development of of weapons systems penny mentioned i and which is that which is a groundbreaking weapon system being developed in israel mainly through many with american dollars so that all this all this does prove that the obama administration

has carried on the policy of previous administrations of cooperation with israel on defense affairs on intelligence on diplomacy record i think where. a way where i agree with you is that is that the tone of the administration that what you call the wishy washy. he watches of the of the administration has been has been very much very much a problem because america is not just about giving. a dollars i mean sending troops around the world america also has a voice and i think obama in many ways is lost the american voice of leadership it's not just about what you want to do it's also about what you were very interesting to me with period and it's not just about me going to me now right now because i think it's not just about mitt romney because obama's the lord of the drone ok it's really hard to get him on foreign policy any. lord of the you look at when that is what it is and hey he is lord of the ground right now and he has

increased it tenfold to what president bush had done it but i mean look also look at the recent trip from mitt romney i mean he had an opportunity to go and it was going to be his grand coming out and to show his expertise in foreign policy while he did this trip he bumbled in london he bumbled all along the way he called you know it was a cultural difference or their cultural issues in which the palestinians can't now succeed when he offended them as well i mean how are you going to go into the middle east and try to work on a peace agreement when you can usually a fellow want to show that indians ok go ahead go ahead you understand the concept of the people around well going to listen. and listen this is where penny and i have giant disagreements mitt romney told the truth and the politically correct left doesn't like it is the capital of israel these really are not legally. possible not under international law no way i'm sorry israel but israel has a serious repeated relations with them isn't that the united states gentlemen. all right i don't want to make a liar program and it is one of those really silly there's all of the world's big

washington d.c. is the capital washington d.c. is the capital of america and we don't really care what the rest of the world thinks and i'm wondering israel feels the same way through slim's the capital that you're in the israeli people are in fact the most industrious people in the entire world the most productive industrials per capita the most successful entrepreneurial the fact that mitt say that it gets a lot of the american aid is really no ok penny go ahead before we go to the break well we give six million to higher price than your enemies so let's be fair go ahead penny. i would say i mean we are we are absolutely wrecked we do recognize the right of israel we do our record recognize you know the capital and jerusalem we lost but at the same time and we also understand that we're also part of the larger conversation we're being asked to help in the aid and to be also to help and both sides both on the palestinians and in the israeli side and where we can be that voice of reason to be able to bring both sides together to maintain peace in

the region that is our objective so we do have to balance and it's great i want you have a one sided view of it but we need to have a balance there in the middle east when you had thirty seconds what are the left out of this conversation what's been left out of this conversation is that when you're talking foreign policy and barack obama libya is it discredits what just happened or a bastard being killed we were warned in advance no security that was was asked for was provided and then a coverup ensued this is watergate with a dead embassador and three did navy seals and it's a disgrace to the united states of america very good and evil spirit if i would agree to disagree since security was cut by the republicans are right we're going to get i want short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on mitt romney's foreign policy state. and.

the gold fever. sounds it's good to see a. little someone rather. than since i started working in a state he. says multinationals. think is a cash cow to be milked dry it is time. i think that in this country gold medal logie as an environmental cost which is unacceptable local business was labeled illegal and controlled by criminals you know in order to protect our lives our families and to work in peace. almost but we are forced to pay protection to illegal groups watch prices colombia going to pay.

the modest effect on r.t. . ok. so tell me how much of my. primary. election. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something

else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm sorry welcome to the big picture. above can you get me. started. on the length of. the plane. welcome back to ross i'm peter lavelle to remind you we're talking about the foreign policy agendas of the u.s. presidential candidates. plenty of the candidates the solo. ok penny about to go back to you in washington i appreciate what you had to say about you know having america's voice in the world and a reasonable one but mitt romney the sounds very very aggressive ok and he sounds

very unilateral in his approach now i know that can be a campaign ploy ok but people do listen to these debates outside of the united states. you know it will be curious to see if the where he goes with with his foreign policy message you know he's hearing from a lot of advisors and many of them from the george w. bush administration and some of them so he's trying to balance right now between the neo cons. and on the far right and also some more on the moderate so we don't necessarily have a real clear picture as to how he will approach foreign policy we saw in his first foray not only on the foreign trip but also in his recent you know in his immediate response to the unfortunate situation in the real sad situation that we faced in benghazi when four when four americans were killed including our ambassador and it was a bubble right out of the beginning and so he overreacted he reacted in a political manner instead of a more presidential science and you know it was a real real unfortunate so we really don't know whether or not he has the

background in the expertise to really truly lead us in this area of foreign policy and so what do you think about that in london and let me go to london first different. i think that as you mentioned. all the world is looking at the debates not just the united states looking at the if you with respect of both candidates the president and romney they both seem to have missed so many opportunities to show leadership on the world stage i mean if we look at obama's record it starts from the green revolution in iran there were thousands and tens of thousands of iranians out there on the streets in tehran and where was it ministration we couldn't hear the for the people getting killed there for democracy and nothing happened kevin and so why would you suggest they would you suggest an intervention then regime change. america and america has a more america has a moral voice america is looked at from the right you said it yourself america is

looked at from around the world you're right romney was badly wrong really was saying the wrong things he wasn't thinking before before you open his mouth and the other hand obama was silent so much i mean look at obama now in syria he hasn't shown any kind of leadership and so what would you suggest intervention would you suggest another war i would suggest leadership leadership is first of all to shoot to to sound a clear moral voice things are wrong so then leaders have to have to leave the stage there are various ways of doing that this diplomacy this intervention this there are so many different things that can be done but obama time and time again has failed in showing that leadership romney hasn't been any better we need in america the world needs an american president america is still the world's leading power it's still a moral voice and the woman needs an american president to be able to be able to stand up at the right time and say the right thing american ok penny go ahead but i think america but i think the president has been strong because there is a delicate balance that needs to be struck the american people are fifteen we are

war fatigue we have been into trance of all wars for the last two years and our blood and treasure has been lost and so i know it's him and the people i say you know that the americans need to be the leader but we have a lead and we. i've been in two wars and so you have to balance to make sure that we're not saying you know we're going to be putting going back into syria we're not going back into a war in egypt we're not going into a war our country is fatigued right now ok bruce well you're right where i would agree there i would agree with that i mean. where i would agree with penny is that is that the united states is fatigued and we're bankrupt where i disagree with penny is that block obama isn't getting us to the right place he's the one that got us involved in libya and it all backfired why are we supporting the rebels in libya who are backed by al qaeda the united states and all welled up coming on us with the attack going to sway to the release of these very. serious and i wasn't talking weeks ago was a successful intervention penny go ahead and i mean but you apply that now i mean

you're from others that said well where is his leadership now in syria they want that same kind of thing they want to arm the rebels in syria and end up in a tragic situation so you have to do these things very delicately. the world i agree with them but here's my point so you. go ahead in london. the world is looking to america for something better i mean look what's happening now around china when china is threatening nations around the around the seas there's a threatening islands there the world looks to america the world doesn't look to any other country in the world to stability and for leadership and for some kind of moral purpose or some kind of and so do you think it's really america you can be a moral beacon for a lot of people in the greater middle east after what's happened america and it's really. a merican yes american made as made a mistake you made is a huge mistake that doesn't that does not take away from the huge things america has brought to me when we talk about the values that people in the middle east are

fighting for for democracy longer see it. as a universal value pennie jumping. to the right to build them up very well they didn't there are there is fighting that has occurred in the in sectarian violence and in clandestine ways that we cannot control and right now especially like in egypt and libya you have internal strife right now whether or not you want to you know do it here to a more conservative more religious more islamic view or do you want to have a little bit more on the modern side so you have internal strife right now that america has no place in that conversation that is stuff that they have to work out themselves we are being caught into the middle of that and so we are trying to make sure that there is a democracy that is being said that we can aid and abide where we can but at the same time you know there are many things that have gone centuries that these fights have occurred for centuries that we just don't have the ability to control and they

are going to importantly have to ports and sell through their head when i jump in peter i think i think my final point you're tuval number one we don't have to butt into anything happening in libya in syria or in egypt with american troops but the easiest way to butt in is to cut off aid to a muslim brotherhood. egypt there's no reason to give them two billion dollars a year when they hate america and they threaten the way when they run in one day election every day we won the elections ok we don't have to support them there's no reason why me as an american taxpayer has to send our times dollars i'd say egypt that is the message to americans and so if you vote either way you will be punished ok if you vote the wrong way well if you try every american is a man for the death of americans and our friends and number two here's the one issue that hasn't been discussed today the bat the most important national security threat to america is our own solving see and bankruptcy and therefore i support

romney because to be a beacon to the world we have to first get our own economic domestic house in order obama's added five trillion a debt we cannot fight for freedom around the world when we're bankrupt at home we need to cut spending and cut the deficit and get the budget in balance that's the number one national security ok when you do support him but you romney says he's going to expand defense spending at the same time. yeah well listen you don't you don't find one hundred percent agreement with any candidate america domestically economically is in disaster in crisis in an economic armageddon under barack obama i'm a businessman i see my business is going under i would not survive four more years of brock obama so i take what i can get with mitt on israel with all economic issues and i and i absolutely support mitt romney for president states but i absolutely agree that we do not want to nation build and we do not want to spend our money all over the world the results have been chaotic at best ok penny you

know what is the disconnect here because we have two people running for president that in my opinion have remarkably similar foreign policy views but it's a disconnect with the american people like you said americans have enough of this why the disconnect. well i mean right now you're speaking to you know we're in the height of the presidential campaign where to reach the century left to go and so you're the american public is wanting to hear from each side what they truly believe what they believe in themselves so they're trying to speak to their own. audiences it but we are a very divided country right now we have eighty percent you know basically there are ninety percent of the electorate are already decided and it's permanently on one side or the other so it's almost like you're confirming what you already know right now and that's where you're seeing the strong disconnect i do believe that whoever becomes the president i believe should be brought a bomb a should be the next should continue on to be the president of united states i do think that you're going to have to start to see a some kind of healing and some bringing together of these strong devise that we

have in america because i agree with wayne we do need to get our debt and our fiscal situation under or i would i would say you know president obama has a better plan than mitt romney because his master was an add up but we do need to have a leader coming out of this election we do need to have some healing and this country bring him back together and so what do you think about that seems to me there's a genetic code of american foreign policy doesn't really matter if it's a democrat or republican anymore. well i agree that in many ways the foreign policy of both parties is not very different i mean if you look over the over decades and even the whole center of american foreign policy america has stuck to this policeman of the world for over four hundred years now this is this is a very very much a part of it like you say the american genetic code but if you talk about the way foreign policy is being debated and until you are somebody looking from the outside i'm here in london and i don't traveling the world i'm not an american but i am deeply interested in the american election campaign i don't think there's any election campaign in the world that you can read about and learn about such

a depth and know so much about it through thousands of television and radio channels and websites and newspapers we see every point of foreign policy is being debated as the debate. jack and sometimes maybe a debate is going a little too far it's not and you can you can read it but the fact is is that almost every every sentence and every every almost every facial expression of one of the candidates is being dissected you said maybe is going too far but. this this debate we have this conversation we're having today on your on your show just proves how every little nuance of the foreign policy is being analyzed and pored over so i think that the foreign policy america is quite bitter has quite an interesting and complex thing when go ahead jump in and i don't think if we did i don't think we're interested i think a lot of people are rather afraid anyway when you go ahead. well let me give you a very different view because you know very often i debate with these foreign policy experts and i'm

a small businessman i'm just the guy with boots on the ground on main street here in the united states and i'm telling you with thousands of people who are fans of my for my vice presidential run with friends all over this country from different diverse areas most people just don't care that much about foreign policy we care about our economy going up in flames this is not a big issue israel a little bit of an issue libya an issue but in general the our american only cares we have run out of this i am here i think i read out and thank you and thank everybody else it's called comfort when you get a drone on your house here many thanks to my guest today in london washington and in las vegas and thanks to our viewers for watching us we've already seen make some remember cross talk. and you can. still. want to.

leave. the. good news.